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Tue, 03 Mar 2015 14:24:42 -0600Joomla! - Open Source Content Managementen-gbAward-Winning Jazz Vocalist Chris Williams Receives Nomination for 2012 OC Music Awards Best Jazzhttp://jazzreview.com/jazz-news/press-releases/award-winning-jazz-vocalist-chris-williams-receives-nomination-for-2012-oc-music-awards-best-jazz.html
http://jazzreview.com/jazz-news/press-releases/award-winning-jazz-vocalist-chris-williams-receives-nomination-for-2012-oc-music-awards-best-jazz.html Award-winning local jazz vocalist, Chris Williams has been nominated in the category of Best Jazz for the Orange County Music Awards, to be held March 3 at The Grove in Anaheim.

Award-winning local jazz vocalist, Chris Williams has been nominated in the category of Best Jazz for the Orange County Music Awards, to be held March 3 at The Grove in Anaheim.Canadian-born jazz vocalist Chris Williams has impressed audiences with his intense passion, vocal proficiency and musical maturity. He has built a loyal following, as his highly entertaining performances are met with great enthusiasm by people of all ages. Chris has been performing in Southern California for more than a decade and currently resides in Anaheim, CA.

"He's having FUN, and the audience knows it and wants to join in on it," said Terence M. Love, owner of Steamers. "As a club owner, packing a house usually is a good indicator of how well-liked a performer is. Chris Williams not only fills the room each performance, his audience stays until the end of the night!"

Chris Williams won a 2007 Orange County Music Award for his Latin jazz. In addition, he performs straight-ahead and bebop jazz while infusing new twists into the old standards. Chris has been touted as a "Fabulous Find" by KLAC radio, featured on the Fox 11 News, and received radio recognition on KKJZ 88.1 FM with Helen Borgers and on KABC 790 AM with Doug McIntyre. In Canada, his music can be heard on AM740 in the Toronto area.

Love adds, "For Williams, it isn't that he knows how to sing jazz standards, but that he is a vocalist searching for more. A performance provides Chris the opportunity to learn, manipulate, reflect, and often dissect a tune in search of its feeling and meaning. Chris Williams always seems to achieve this goal, and does it with style and presence that makes it seem effortless. Don't miss this gifted, unpretentious gem."

"Blessed with great intonation, a true sense of rhythm, and the stage presence of a seasoned veteran, Williams always delivers, and delivers well," Terence M. Love said. "Having witnessed 13 years of great jazz vocalists on the stage of Steamers like George Benson, Diana Krall, Karrin Allyson, and Rebecca Parris, I can add, without hesitation, Chris Williams to the list."

Born in Calgary, Alberta, Chris began by singing gospel music in his parents' church as a young boy. After moving to White Rock, British Columbia, he studied under the highly acclaimed musical director Dave Proznick at Semiahmoo Secondary School. While in this program, Chris began performing professionally as a drummer and vocalist. He has earned many awards, including four vocal solo awards at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival and a major scholarship to the elite Berklee College of Music in Boston.

He has since performed at many prestigious venues including The Bing Crosby Estate, Catalina Bar and Grill, The Jazz Bakery, Steamers Jazz Club, The Lighthouse, Charlie O's, The Ritz Carlton Jazz Series, Disneyland and California Adventure Theme Parks in addition to performances at many local jazz festivals. Chris has been received with great admiration and acclaim on tours in Europe (February 2004) and Canada (May 2005). Earlier this year at the 2007 Orange County Music Awards, Chris received the award for Best Latin for his Latin jazz rendition of "Comes Love". "Comes Love" was originally written and composed by Lew Brown, Sammy Stept, and Charles Tobias and is featured on Chris' album, "premoderism".

The 2011 Orange County Music Awards begins at 8:00 PM on March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim. Additional information on the Orange County Music Awards can be found at http://www.ocmusicawards.com.

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About Chris Williams

Chris Williams has been performing professionally since he was fifteen years old. Now at 33, this Canadian sensation has impressed audiences with his intense passion, vocal proficiency and musical maturity. He has built a loyal following, as his highly entertaining performances are met with great enthusiasm by people of all ages. Chris can be seen the third Tuesday each month at the Steamers Jazz Club in Fullerton and various venues around Orange County. His full schedule can be viewed online at www.cwjazz.com. Video footage can be seen on his YouTube channel at youtube.com/cwjazzmusic. Fans can follow Chris on Facebook at facebook.com/cwjazz and on Twitter at twitter.com/cwjazzmusic.

Psychedelic pranksters M'lumbo return with the amusingly titled Celestial Ghetto. The title of the album is quite fitting as M'lumbo draw from many sources, and can alternate seamlessly between the gritty and the ethereal. With M'lumbo, there is no distinction between high and low art where refined soloing is juxtaposed against a sense of nutty humor. This might be irritating to some (why obscure a perfectly good solo with seemingly random samples?) but this recording is refreshingly free from intellectual pretenses.

Psychedelic pranksters M'lumbo return with the amusingly titled Celestial Ghetto. The title of the album is quite fitting as M'lumbo draw from many sources and can alternate seamlessly between the gritty and the ethereal. With M'lumbo, there is no distinction between high and low art where refined soloing is juxtaposed against a sense of nutty humor. This might be irritating to some (why obscure a perfectly good solo with seemingly random samples?) but this recording is refreshingly free from intellectual pretenses.

The sound itself is expansive and dense. There is a lot of space and a lot of clutter in this music at precisely the same time. Psychedelic washes of sound and a variety samples help create a sense of druggy distance, but there are so many solos and voices that the songs can sound frantic and unorganized. The production is excellently done. A bad job would have hopelessly buried the layers of this album in an unrecognizable mess. The album sounds immediate, full and clear enough to hear everything that is going on—and there is a lot going on.

The winding solos, room for improvisation and general daring tip Celestial Ghetto off as a jazz record. That said, fans of left field hip-hop or electronically minded jam bands will likely feel right at home with this recording. Digitalized beats and samples are prevalent. There are bleeps and bloops, funky drums and smug samples in every nook and cranny of this recording.

In short, the playing is good enough to reward careful listening, although the samples can often make it difficult to concentrate on the subtleties of the instrumentalists. But Celestial Ghetto succeeds on its own terms. It is a stubbornly original, well played and fun recording. Any music fan looking for something unique, carefree and perhaps a bit insane might do well to check this release out.

]]>morrice.blackwell@gmail.com (Eric Prinzing)Electronica - CD ReviewsMon, 21 Nov 2011 15:29:27 -0600The Road by Keiko Matsuihttp://jazzreview.com/cd-reviews/new-age-cd-reviews/the-road-by-keiko-matsui.html
http://jazzreview.com/cd-reviews/new-age-cd-reviews/the-road-by-keiko-matsui.htmlNothing hurt the new age artists and their market more than the advent of smooth jazz. When smooth jazzers took the kind of music new agers had been creating and gave it a backbeat, along with obvious R&B sentimentality, sales of new age music dropped off the radar. A few of the more well-known new age musicians have survived, such as David Lanz, but in order to do so they moved their music more towards the light R&B stylings, smooth jazzers grew and cultivated. Another new ager who has survived this market shift is keyboardist and composer Keiko Matsui.

Nothing hurt the new age artists and their market more than the advent of smooth jazz. When smooth jazzers took the kind of music new agers had been creating and gave it a backbeat, along with obvious R&B sentimentality, sales of new age music dropped off the radar. A few of the more well-known new age musicians have survived, such as David Lanz, but in order to do so they moved their music more towards the light R&B stylings, smooth jazzers grew and cultivated. Another new ager who has survived this market shift is keyboardist and composer Keiko Matsui.

The Road is Matsui's first new recording in four years and the second she's produced by herself. As on her last recording, where she brought in smooth jazzers to help lend their name recognition to the product, she again brings in some heavy hitters. This time, however, she brings in fewer, enlisting only Kirk Whalum, Jackiem Joyner and sometime smooth jazzer Richard Bona.

What she does, instead, is give her music a bit of a harder feel and drive than much of her past music. Recruiting master drummer/percussionist Vinny Colaiuta to play on a few cuts was brilliant. His ability to lay back and allow Keiko's melodies to dominate, while at the same time punching up the rhythmic sound a bit, pays off in helping her create one of her most rhythmically oriented recordings ever.

Colaiuta is there on the first track, "Secret Pond," which melds the atmospherics her fans have come to expect with an upfront percussive beat driven verve and oomph we don't normally associate with Matsui. His masterful groove feel also takes the average composition "Awakening" and turn it into something special and he absolutely goes for broke on "Affirmation."

Even though it's MB Gordy handling drums on "Bohemian Concerto," this track demonstrates just how far Matsui is moving towards smooth jazz. This Trans-Siberian Orchestra-ish composition has a not only a hard driving backbeat, but also with the addition of a Flamenco guitarist in Alberto De Almar and accordionist Frank Marooco, Spanish touches.

Perhaps most surprising is the heavily jazz tinged rhythmic arrangement given to "Embrace & Surrender." One can't help but hear the influence of Matsui's work with the great Bob James in this mid/down tempo obviously jazz-inspired composition. James Hara's guitar and Reggie Hamilton's bass make this song feel like it could have come off any of the albums James did with guitarist Earl Klugh.

What this recording melts down into is Matsui's most genre ambitious recording to date. New agers will still find all of the thin melodic sounds they've expected from Matsui's work in the past, but now with a deep depth of rhythmic punctuation that this time might also attract some of the smooth jazz and chill crowd.

Pianist Assaf Gleizner, bass guitarist Koby Hayon and drummer Nadav Snir Zelniker form Trio Shalva. Shalva is a Hebrew word that means serenity. On Riding Alone, the ensemble’s independently-released recording, Trio Shalva explores standards and original music from Israel, their homeland. Trio Shalva’s sound, for the most part, is New Age. Think Scott Cossu or Fred Simon without the saxophonist out front.

As the lead voice in an ensemble whose songs resemble vignettes that could serve as soundtracks for road trips, notice the disc’s cover, Gleizner’s solos stay close to the melody without becoming knuckle-busting technique displays. While he does not display the ozone-level chops that many be-bop pianists have, Gleizner does brush up against “A Night In Tunisia” during his solo on “Shir Ahava Bedoui,” an Israeli standard that opens this recording.

Another nod to a jazz standard, “Without a Song” is made by Hayon on “Kvar Avru HaShanim.” Here, Trio Shalva strives for and reaches dramatic heights as Gleizner assumes a contemplative role while Hayon takes the lead. When Gleizner returns to the lead, this song/story-for-the-mind intensifies via a vigorous conflict of wills/eventual decision where his solo is elevated by Zelniker, whose maneuvers on the cymbals are at their most assertive. This performance reaches a total resolution when Gleizner’s solo ends and the ensemble transitions into a triumphant release. Zelniker then lowers the heat by switching to a relaxed backbeat.

Trio Shalva’s reflective mood, while led by Gleizner, is solidified throughout by Zelniker. This is quite clear on “1-3-4-8,” a straight-ahead original written by Hayon. On this track, Zelniker fills the openings left by Gleizner with tasty brush work, cymbal touches, and even a brief press roll. On “Vertigo,” another Hayon original, Gleizner and Zelniker provide comping/cymbal support for Hayon’s solo. They play alongside the bass solo before seamlessly merging as one and returning the lead back to the pianist. This intersection in sound shows how Trio Shalva values talking with, never over, each other.

Trio Shalva also displays an affinity for Middle Eastern sound with “Sova,” a song written by clarinetist Eyal Seda. Here, Zelniker is heard at the start providing accompaniment on frame drum. The trio’s performance is notably more assertive, as Gleizner plays more toward the piano’s middle range, as opposed to the higher ranges like on most songs here. On “Misirlou,” the trio embraces tango and Latin music. Trio Shalva’s performance on this track, which at the start just begs for a belly dancer, begins as a waltz with Gleizner’s “Bolero”-type playing before everyone builds in momentum where his Latin jazz-flavored solo is propelled by Zelniker’s shifting, speedier accompaniment. As the solo continues building, the trio shows how they can also flat-out swing when needed.

For the closer, “Erev Shel Shoshanim,” everyone abandons their main axes. Gleizner plays melodica, Hayon plays nylon string guitar and Zelniker plays frame drum. This “experimenting with alternative instruments,” as the group calls it in the liner notes, succeeds as a meditative exploration with a totally different feel from everything else on this recording. With this track, a story played by the trio and imagined by the listener unfolds the way they would individually envision it.

]]>morrice.blackwell@gmail.com (Corey Hall)New Age - CD ReviewsSat, 23 Jul 2011 15:14:14 -0500Rodrigo Rodriguezhttp://jazzreview.com/artist-biographies/rodrigo-rodriguez.html
http://jazzreview.com/artist-biographies/rodrigo-rodriguez.htmlBorn in Argentina (1978). Rodriguez arrived to Spain in 1986, where he spent most of his childhood. At an early age, he began to study modern and classical music. Between the years of 1993-1999, Rodrigo tutored at home enrolled with several teachers of classical guitar until he was 22 years old. Rodrigo's professional music career began in Spain. It was there that he discovered his first Asian instrument the Shakuhachi flute. Fascinated by Japanese music, he travelled to Japan several times to enhance his knowledge. He studied classical and traditional Japanese music under the lineages of Katsuya Yokoyama with the…]]>morrice.blackwell@gmail.com (Yoshisuke Kuroda)Artist BiographiesSat, 28 May 2011 16:14:17 -0500A Delicate Balance by Lisa Downinghttp://jazzreview.com/cd-reviews/new-age-cd-reviews/a-delicate-balance-by-lisa-downing.html
http://jazzreview.com/cd-reviews/new-age-cd-reviews/a-delicate-balance-by-lisa-downing.htmlPianist and Denver, Colorado native Lisa Downing has spent time touring with new-age artists like Liz Story and Lee Bartley, as well as shared the program with other artists like David Lanz. Her collegiate music degree is a joint one between the University of Colorado at Denver and Metropolitan State College.A Delicate Balance is her third solo piano recording and has a style very reminiscent of Liz Story. Downing’s 12-track, 42-minute disc is a collection of solo piano pieces inspired by peop

Pianist and Denver, Colorado native Lisa Downing has spent time touring with new-age artists like Liz Story and Lee Bartley, as well as shared the program with other artists like David Lanz. Her collegiate music degree is a joint one between the University of Colorado at Denver and Metropolitan State College.

A Delicate Balance is her third solo piano recording and has a style very reminiscent of Liz Story. Downing’s 12-track, 42-minute disc is a collection of solo piano pieces inspired by people in her life. For instance, her son Adam inspired the song “Make Believe” and her son Andy inspired the track “Lost.” Downing also features music about specific situations that she faces in her life, as on “No Matter What I Do.”

All of the pieces are mid-tempo, contemplative, with great use of tempo rubato and mostly two-part interplay of lines. The music is all tonal with occasional touchings of “outside” chords. In short, this recording is truly aimed at the new-age market, one which has took a serious beating because as the smooth jazz radio format became more focused, new age music was slowly eliminated from the playlist. For those who like simple, contemplative melodies with simple counterpoint and dynamics that move gently, this disc will speak to you.

]]>morrice.blackwell@gmail.com (Thomas R. Erdmann)New Age - CD ReviewsFri, 18 Feb 2011 12:00:00 -0600A Delicate Balance by Lisa Downinghttp://jazzreview.com/cd-reviews/new-age-cd-reviews/a-delicate-balance-by-lisa-downing.html
http://jazzreview.com/cd-reviews/new-age-cd-reviews/a-delicate-balance-by-lisa-downing.htmlPianist and Denver, Colorado native Lisa Downing has spent time touring with new-age artists like Liz Story and Lee Bartley, as well as shared the program with other art…

Pianist and Denver, Colorado native Lisa Downing has spent time touring with new-age artists like Liz Story and Lee Bartley, as well as shared the program with other artists like David Lanz. Her collegiate music degree is a joint one between the University of Colorado at Denver and Metropolitan State College.

A Delicate Balance is her third solo piano recording and has a style very reminiscent of Liz Story. Downing’s 12-track, 42-minute disc is a collection of solo piano pieces inspired by people in her life. For instance, her son Adam inspired the song "Make Believe" and her son Andy inspired the track "Lost." Downing also features music about specific situations that she faces in her life, as on "No Matter What I Do."

All of the pieces are mid-tempo, contemplative, with great use of tempo rubato and mostly two-part interplay of lines. The music is all tonal with occasional touchings of "outside" chords. In short, this recording is truly aimed at the new-age market, one which has took a serious beating because as the smooth jazz radio format became more focused, new age music was slowly eliminated from the playlist. For those who like simple, contemplative melodies with simple counterpoint and dynamics that move gently, this disc will speak to you.

]]>morrice.blackwell@gmail.com (Thomas R. Erdmann)New Age - CD ReviewsThu, 07 May 2009 13:00:00 -0500A Story by Marc Martinohttp://jazzreview.com/cd-reviews/new-age-cd-reviews/a-story-by-marc-martino.html
http://jazzreview.com/cd-reviews/new-age-cd-reviews/a-story-by-marc-martino.htmlA new age experiment that was initially intended to explore the inner depths of Marc Martino’s imagination, this beautiful, often grandiose, sometimes even celestial pro…

A new age experiment that was initially intended to explore the inner depths of Marc Martino’s imagination, this beautiful, often grandiose, sometimes even celestial project ends up reaching out to the listener in a way that allows him or her to travel with the artist and his prolific melodies to the places he would have one go. A Story truly goes the extra mile to tell its variety of tales that make it up in such a vibrant fashion. Obviously using skills honed during his multi-faceted years delving into various genres, Martino produces a handsome piece of work with very decent appeal.

Martino states that the album can be enjoyed as if it were film music around which listeners can create their own images. I think he’s on to something there, as there is enough room for such creativity and input from patrons. The tunes, laced with acoustical arrangements and electronica in varying degrees, are quite elaborate and professionally massaged. They involve a lot more than stringing notes together. This is an opera in motion, with elements of world, rock, and new age generously sprinkled throughout, and as expressive as any I’ve heard. Organ, strings, synth, you name it. It’s all brought together here in an almost haughty fashion. Interesting material, to say the least.

From the absolutely beautiful opening track, "Whispers Song," to the finale "Relinquish," it’s clear that Martino wished to transform the images in his own head to music and back again. With this production, he’s apparently attempting to do the same to listeners. It’s a bet he’ll be able to do so easily. It is a journey worth taking.

]]>morrice.blackwell@gmail.com (Ronald Jackson)New Age - CD ReviewsSun, 13 Apr 2008 13:00:00 -0500Acoustic Peace by The Sound Vol. 2 (various artists)http://jazzreview.com/cd-reviews/new-age-cd-reviews/acoustic-peace-by-the-sound-vol.-2-various-artists.html
http://jazzreview.com/cd-reviews/new-age-cd-reviews/acoustic-peace-by-the-sound-vol.-2-various-artists.htmlIf gentle, acoustic waves of peace, light, and sound are what you seek to rid yourself of the day’s rough handling of you, you really must give The Sound a list…

If gentle, acoustic waves of peace, light, and sound are what you seek to rid yourself of the day’s rough handling of you, you really must give The Sound a listen. It’s a smart collection of tunes designed to sweep you away ever so gently to a place that’s listener-friendly and unhurried. Admittedly, I cannot claim broad knowledge of any of the various international artists contributing to this fine piece of work, but I can say it is truly not an easy project to ignore or diminish. Personally, I enjoyed the first half of the album a bit better than the second because it appears that more defined melodies were evident in the earlier tunes, and I’m a big melody fan.

Still, that said, every tune here appears crafted with an eye toward soothing you--the listener--and caressing all of your senses through sound in such a manner as to snatch from you all the burdens of the day, the moment. Mostly filled with artfully and sweetly melodic selections with marvelous guitar and piano chord enticements, the album seeks to tell a comforting and compelling story that allows you to easily "get it." Rich tunes like "Far Away," "Behind the Sun" and "Vorspann" give you a reason to just sit and listen, like you used to do. Remember? Just sitting and listening, no other activity going on. Not driving in or washing your car, fiddling around the house, chatting on the phone, etc. Settled down and attentive is where you actually need to be when listening to much of this one. That will allow you to appreciate the intricacies of the acoustical sweetness and the pliancy of many of the melodies here. Very well produced, indeed.

]]>morrice.blackwell@gmail.com (Ronald Jackson)New Age - CD ReviewsWed, 09 Apr 2008 07:00:00 -0500The Flowing by Randy Kleinhttp://jazzreview.com/cd-reviews/new-age-cd-reviews/the-flowing-by-randy-klein.html
http://jazzreview.com/cd-reviews/new-age-cd-reviews/the-flowing-by-randy-klein.htmlOK, picture or feel this. It’s been a long, long exhausting day and you just want to plop down on the sofa or in your recliner and enjoy some really good acoustic piano …

OK, picture or feel this. It’s been a long, long exhausting day and you just want to plop down on the sofa or in your recliner and enjoy some really good acoustic piano arrangements to massage away the pent-up anxiety. Here is music so soft, so serene, so caressing, with a feel almost like you’re floating down in slow motion to descend upon a huge heap of feathers. That’s the image Randy Klein wants you to conjure up in his latest album The Flowing and he nails it. Plain and simple, he nails it.

The warm tickling of the ivories and the tender melodies on each magnificent piece brings about a peaceful, surrealistic aura of well-being that really needs no words, no accompanying instruments, no outside intrusions of any kind. Just you and him and music fit for a fantasy. Tunes like the opener "The Calm" and "Clean and Beautiful" and "Why Won’t You?" fully explain why Klein is an award-winning pianist after only three albums (including this one). Nothing jarring here, nothing beckoning you to the dance floor or inviting you to "crank it up." Just good, solid compositions performed with a great deal of professional ease. Just enough to allow you to make it through one more night and perhaps motivate you to try another day tomorrow. You could well end up greatly thanking Klein for this quality time and his quality production.